Winners

Proving that it isn't only Iowa's tree-hugging population and bongo drum corps that heed the advice of Rep. Ed Fallon, State Auditor David Vaudt has decided to look into the Iowa Values Fund, thanks in part to constant prodding from the lefty gubernatorial candidate. Fallon has been rightly critical of the program (a pet project of Gov. Vilsack's, and of Fallon's opponent in the governor race, Mike Blouin) since its inception, claiming that the incentives it doles out to lure companies to the Heartland amount to corporate welfare. According to the auditor's office, the goal is to determine how many jobs have actually been created by the fund. Vaudt, you will recall, was lauded as a "winner" on this page two months ago for shining a light on the CIETC scandal. Once again, the Republican auditor is proving that he is one of the few in state government willing to look past politics to root out corruption.

Regardless of what you think about the quality of your local phone service, you've gotta love the fact that Qwest's big bosses gave the finger to the feds (metaphorically speaking) when Dubya wanted to sneak a peak at our phone records. After Sept. 11, when the organ-grinder monkeys at the other phone companies allowed the National Security Administration to have its way with them, Qwest stood firm on behalf of its 15 million customers. After some long-term bickering, negotiations between Qwest and the executive branch came to a halt in 2004. Regardless of whether Qwest was motivated by righteous idealism or baser concerns cooked up by corporate lawyers, we'll take it. Now the American Civil Liberties Union is trying to hold the other phone companies accountable, as well. Iowa's ACLU chapter formally asked the Iowa Utilities Board to investigate potential abuses on behalf of Iowa customers, but the state agency concluded that it doesn't have jurisdiction over interstate phone companies. At this point, the ACLU is collecting names of angry phone customers who have used long-distance carriers other than Qwest any time during the past five years. "The whole point is to restore a system of real checks and balances to our federal government," says Iowa ACLU Director Ben Stone. "We're just looking for a mechanism to enforce accountability." To get involved, visit aclu.org

Losers

Iowa's lame duck just got a little lamer... and we're not referring to those persevering photos of Tom Vilsack in the Winnie-the-Pooh costume. The Vilsack administration trusted the Iowa Workforce Development agency with the public's tax bucks, but the guv apparently doesn't trust the public to know exactly what happened to those dollars - or who was involved - in the massive salary scandal at CIETC. The Central Iowa Employment and Training Consortium, which is overseen by Workforce Development, received federal funding to help Iowans find and keep jobs, but apparently the only things getting funded were speedboats and fat checks for top CIETC staffers. While the guilty parties have resigned, a new administrative report commissioned by Vilsack allegedly reveals the extent of the involvement of other state employees. You'd think that the moral of the CIETC story would be transparency, but Vilsack's decision this week to keep confidential the results of the report is about as clear as mud. In a scandal that is proving to be more incestuous than a Tennessee family reunion, citizens deserve to know exactly who is responsible for pilfering their money.

Franky, ol' Tommy "Pooh Bear" Vilsack deserves multiple thumps on the head this week. He astounded people last Friday by vetoing the eminent domain legislation that had sailed through both the House and the Senate earlier in the session. Even Iowa's more sardonic political watchers were convinced that a guy with presidential delusions would never do anything so strategically clueless as siding with greedy developers against the public over eminent domain - particularly since the entire country was so thoroughly pissed off about the Kelo ruling. Legislators are now seriously considering an override, and it may not take much to collect the necessary two-thirds of each house to swat Vilsack's hand away from the honey jar, since the bill passed 89-5 in the House and 43-6 in the Senate.CV

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